Assertion based approach to auditing;

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An Assertion Based Approach To Auditing Donald A. Leslie Stephen J. Aldersley Donald J. Cockburn Carolyn J. Reiter Clarkson Gordon 1. Some History And Introductory Comments It is our contention that there is a theory of auditing, that there exist a number of basic assumptions and a body of integrated ideas, the understanding of which will be of direct assistance in the development and practice of the art of auditing. Further, it is our belief, which we attempt to support in the following pages, that an understanding of auditing theory can lead us to reasonable solutions of some of the most vexing problems facing auditors today. Mautz and Sharaf The Philosophy of Auditing, p. 1 American Accounting Association, 1961 It is interesting to note that this is the Silver Anniversary of what is probably the most recognized pioneering work on auditing theory. It is a pleasure to have Bob Mautz with us today as a participant in Auditing Symposium VIII. The earliest reference to the concept of assertions that we could locate in the auditing literature can be found in Chapter 5 of Mautz and Sharaf. After publication of The Philosophy of Auditing by the American Accounting Association in 1961, the concept of assertions appears to have gone into hibernation until 1973 when it made a brief appearance in A Statement of BASIC AUDITING CONCEPTS [ASOBAC]. The definition of auditing provided in ASOBAC was: Auditing is a systematic process of objectively obtaining and evaluating evidence regarding assertions about economic actions and events to ascertain the degree of correspondence between those assertions and established criteria and communicating the results to interested users. In the early 1970s R.J. Anderson recognized the merits of the assertion concept described by Mautz and Sharaf and he organized the assertions by financial statement component1 [assets, liabilities and income]. Figure 1, taken
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